Well known examples of bathroom layouts generally have a shower configuration that includes a bathtub and a hanging shower curtain. In such well known examples, the bathtub is enclosed on three sides by walls with the shower curtain substituting a fourth wall.
In an effort to increase an abode's livable space, many home designers and developers will sacrifice bathroom space to facilitate increasing the livable space. This is especially well known in condominiums, guest areas of a house or a hotel room. Condominium bathrooms are generally small such that the square footage of the livable space is increased. Moreover, the guest areas of a house, such as a guest bathroom, are typically smaller than the master bathroom and other more frequently used areas of the house to facilitate increasing the size of those more frequently used areas. As a result, such guest bathrooms generally have smaller shower areas than users would prefer.
Users of smaller shower areas may wish to increase the size of their shower area. One known example of increasing the shower area is to use a curved or angled shower rod that extends outward from above the tub area into the room. Such shower rods facilitate increasing the shower space by curving or angling a shower liner away from the shower space. As a result, the space within the shower area is increased.
However, it has been observed that the curved shower rod also stresses the mounting bracket on the wall and causes stress cracks in the walls or the shower. Excessive downward force on curved rods causes rods to bend downward. The wall mounting bracket attachment to walls loosens which further allows rods to sag. The twisting brackets damage the wall (drywall or tile or fiberglass etc.) at the attachment points. There is needed an improved mounting bracket that will keep the curved rod firmly horizontal under the normal weight of shower curtains but will release and rotate downward if excessive force is applied. Such excessive force is caused when a user pulls forcefully on the curtain or rod or hangs something heavy on the rod. Sometimes the cracking is so severe, the curved shower rod and curtain sag rather than remain horizontal.
To prevent the above-described damage or other damages, a resettable breakaway bracket assembly releases downward if a force greater than about 20 pounds is applied. In a more preferred embodiment the bracket assembly will release downward if greater than about 50 pounds is applied.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,806,670 discloses a rotatable curtain rod that rotates from a first position to a second position. The first position is horizontal curved outward, and the second position is horizontal curved inward. The only rotation possible is up and over between the two positions, as the stationary horizontal position is effected by gravity. To attempt to use this device to effect a downward breakaway position would defeat the ability of the device to hold the rod fixed horizontally. This patent fails to even mention the problem of a need for downward breakaway brackets that can be reset to the horizontal position.